Abstract:
The Spaceward Foundation in collaboration with NASA today announced a significant expansion of the Power Beaming and Tether Challenges. These two events are collectively known as the Space Elevator Games as they focus on the two key technologies needed to build the Space Elevator.

The new agreement expands the time-frame of both the Beam Power and the Tether Challenges from one year to five years through the year 2010, and provides incrementally larger total purses for years two through five above the $200K purse in year one for each contest. For the second through the fifth years, the total prize purses to be offered for each competition each year are$300K, $400K, $500K, and $600K, respectively.